A closer look at I-375 alternatives – and how they might affect commute times

There are six alternative design proposals for I-375 in Detroit, including this one, which is a reconstruction of the freeway as is.

I-375 ideas at a glance

Alternative 1

Details: This proposal would reconstruct the freeway, service drives and bridges as is. It would also make improvements to the southbound ramps at Monroe Street and East Lafayette Street and East Larned Street and East Jefferson Avenue.

Cost estimate: $60 million to $70 million

Alternative 2

Details: The same reconstruction and improvement work would take place as is proposed in the first alternative, but would include bike lanes and make pedestrian use easier along the service drives. Another change would be creating a landscaped terraced storm water management zone between the service drives and the freeway, rather than the vegetated slope that exists now.

Cost estimate: Between $70 million and $80 million.

Alternative 3

Details: In this proposal, the freeway would transition to a surface street at Larned and eliminate the Jefferson curve. The northbound service drive would be converted to a two-way local street with bikes lanes and a retaining wall would be created along the south service drive. The design also frees up about two acres of land on the south side of Jefferson Avenue.

Cost estimate: Between $55 million and $65 million.

Alternative 4

Details: This scenario removes the southbound service drive and thereby opens up about 9.3 acres on the south side of Jefferson Avenue for reuse. The freeway would move to a surface street at Clinton Street and there would be shared use path added on the neighborhood side.

Cost estimate: Between $40 million and $50 million.

Alternative 5

Details: Here the southbound service drive would also be eliminated, with eight lanes of traffic, four north, and four south, divided by a landscaped median largely in its place. The freeway would transition to a surface street at Clinton Street where it would be reconstructed as a boulevard. The northbound service drive would change to a two-way local street with bikes lanes. This proposal opens up about 8.5 acres for reuse between the eight travel lanes and local street.

Cost estimate: Between $45 million and $55 million.

Alternative 6

Details: Starting at Clinton Street, I-375 would be replaced with two, one-way roads where the service drivers are largely located now. In between, about 11.6 acres of property would be freed up for reuse, with a shared use path in the middle.

Six alternative proposals for Detroit’s Interstate 375 range from keeping it as is, to making the space more pedestrian friendly and opening up more green space, and potential development opportunities are up for public discussion this week.

The public is invited to review and provide feedback on the designs, which range in price tags between $40 million and $80 million, from 2-8 p.m. Thursday in Shed 5 of Detroit’s Eastern Market. Short presentations are planned for 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

The cost to repair the existing freeway could be as much as $70 million; it’s money the state does not have. Discussions began last year on looking at alternatives that potentially could be cheaper but also make it easier to connect the neighborhood on the east side to the downtown business district.

Will Tamminga, director of project management for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said the DEGC and Michigan Department of Transportation staff will take input into consideration, along with technical reviews for environmental impact and traffic modeling, and narrow the choices to two.

The final decision likely will come at a public meeting by August, he said. There now are 12 lanes of traffic in the area around the 1-mile expressway from Gratiot Avenue to Atwater Street.

Two of the proposals — alternatives four and six — have the least eight lanes. The other alternatives range between 10 and 12 lanes.

The average daily traffic on I-375 ranges from 15,000 near Jefferson Avenue to 60,000 closer to I-75, state traffic data shows. MDOT said all of the proposals will be able to accommodate the traffic.

“That is going to be an interesting conversation,” Tamminga said.

The alternative plans will result in varying travel times, which will be presented at Thursday’s meeting.

The longest increase would be about three minutes, said Kelby Wallace, MDOT senior project manager. That is based on traffic patterns in 2040, which assumes traffic growth. Several of the proposals could add an extra three minutes of travel time during the evening rush hour between East Jefferson Avenue and 1,000 feet north of Gratiot Avenue. It now takes an average of one minute for that route, he said.

During the morning commute, the most travel time added to the commute would be two and a half minutes, he said.

Those travel time increases will have to be weighed with the potential for increased connectivity, green space and the potential economic development that could occur, Wallace said.

“That will be part of the discussions and analysis that will take place after this meeting,” he said.

The travel times increase in several of the alternatives because there will be fewer lanes of traffic, the addition of stop lights and slower traffic speed limits.

The speed limit now on the freeway is 55 mph and could go to as low as 35 mph, depending on which alternative is chosen.

Regardless of the proposal chosen, the project would be MDOT’s. Even if it is decided to go with an alternative to make I-375 a boulevard or local street, it would not change jurisdiction over to the city, Wallace said. But that is something that could be part of a discussion, if the city or state were interested in doing so, he said.

Keeping it a state road allows federal funds to be used, which typically cover 80 percent of a project’s cost, Wallace said. The state and local contribution would be 20 percent.

Several of the proposals also free up acreage of land that the freeway or its right of ways occupy. Early discussions have explored the possibility of public-private partnerships to sell the freed-up property and put the funding toward paying for the project.

Also part of the preliminary conversations are how that land would be divvied up, and whether it would offered first to adjacent property owners or to the general public.

“There is a lot of complexity,” he said.

The cost for all of the projects that bring portions of the freeway to grade level are less than repairing the freeway and leaving it as is, but that is not because they are factoring in the revenue from selling the freed-up acreage, Wallace said.

It is cheaper simply because it is less expensive to fill in the area with dirt and gravel than to build new bridges, retaining walls and other structures over top of the area.

Each of the alternative proposals except for the first one — which would improve the freeway and leave it as is — would create a connection to the riverfront from East Jefferson to Atwater Street.

Thursday’s open house, hosted by the Detroit Downtown Development Authority, MDOT and Detroit RiverFront Conservancy, will provide the second of three opportunities for the public to comment on potential alternative configurations.

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